According to local news media in South Korea on June 25, eight major banks in South Korea are preparing to establish a joint venture company to issuance a Korean won Stable Coin. The participating banks include Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, Nonghyup Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, Suhyup Bank, Citibank Korea Branch, and Standard Chartered Korea Branch. The project is a collaboration between banks, the Open Blockchain and Decentralization Identifier Association, and the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute.
Currently, the relevant parties are still discussing the common infrastructure. If permitted by the regulators, the joint venture is expected to be officially launched at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. The project team is currently considering two stablecoin issuance models, one is the trust model, first independently trust customer funds before the issuance of Stable Coin; the other is the deposit-backed coin model, linking Stable Coin to bank deposits.